Every Taylor Swift Album, Ranked
Taylor Swift went from Nashville country to synth-pop to hushed folk, and this vote ranks all three sounds side by side. An original studio album gets a slot whenever Taylor Swift is its credited artist, liked or not, and nothing else does: no EPs, no Spotify setlist compilation, no long pond studio sessions (a concert film's audio). A Taylor's Version or an expanded edition like The Anthology doesn't get a separate slot; where a ranking placed one, the original album takes the credit. Slant, Consequence, Business Insider, Paste, MOJO, ClutchPoints and i-D set the tier, and a ranking counts for an album if it ranks it or came out on or after its release, a count every entry states. An album joins the upper tier when 3 or more rankings that count for it rate it third or higher; the others go below, and the ballot orders each. Every link is that album's earliest Spotify edition, judged on its tracklist (how many songs, which titles), not the year Spotify prints, and an entry explains any unclean carrier.
Taylor Swift — Red (2012) is #1 on “Every Taylor Swift Album, Ranked”.
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Taylor Swift — Red (2012)
Nine producers are credited, Swift included, with Nathan Chapman from the country records on one side and Max Martin and Shellback, on 22 and two other tracks, on the other. State Of Grace, the opener, rides ringing guitars and big drums in an arena-rock production by Swift and Chapman. Paste, ClutchPoints and i-D all put it first, i-D's pick being the 2021 re-recording, which counts for Red, and 5 of the 7 have it top three.
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Taylor Swift — 1989 (2014)
Swift had moved from Nashville to New York in March 2014, took the title from the year she was born as a fresh start, and marketed it as the first "official pop" album she'd made. Clean, the last track, is the song she brought Imogen Heap in to collaborate on. MOJO ranks it first, Slant, Consequence and ClutchPoints second and Paste third, for 5 top-three placings among the 7; i-D's seventh went to the re-recording, credited to this album.
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Taylor Swift — folklore (2020)
With studios shut by the pandemic, she recorded in her own Los Angeles home studio, Kitty Committee. Its third track, the last great american dynasty, is about Rebekah Harkness, a socialite on Swift's mind as a song subject from 2013, when the Holiday House became hers. Slant, Consequence and Business Insider rank it first and Paste and MOJO second, which makes 5 of the 7 with it third or better, while ClutchPoints and i-D have it fourth and fifth.
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Taylor Swift — evermore (2020)
Swift called it a "sister record" to folklore, and it arrived in December 2020, less than five months behind it. The song marjorie is for her maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay, who sang opera and died when Swift was 13, and Finlay's own operatic vocals are sampled into it. Business Insider, at third, gives it its 1 top-three finish across the 7, with Slant and Consequence both stopping at fourth and i-D putting it tenth, last of its ten.
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Taylor Swift — Fearless (2008)
Fifteen goes back to her freshman year at Hendersonville High School, with her real friend Abigail written into it, on a record that spent eleven non-consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200. ClutchPoints' third place is the 1 top-three result it gets from the 7, and i-D's sixth, which went to Fearless (Taylor's Version), the first of the re-recordings, out in April 2021, is credited to this album.
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Taylor Swift — reputation (2017)
No press campaign: Swift skipped the usual interviews and held secret listening sessions for fans picked from social media in the month before release. Getaway Car is hazy synth-pop that tells the end of a romance as a flight from a crime, with a nod to Bonnie and Clyde and her voice fed through a vocoder. Slant's third place gives it 1 top-three finish among the 7, and Consequence, which puts it twelfth and last, marks the other end.
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Taylor Swift — Lover (2019)
Her first album after the 12-year Big Machine contract ended, and its master recording is hers. Daylight is the last of the eighteen tracks and sets love as golden now where it once burned red. i-D, at third, supplies its 1 top-three spot out of 7, and MOJO's fifth is the next best placing it gets anywhere.
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Taylor Swift — Midnights (2022)
Its songs took every place in the Billboard Hot 100's top ten in the same week. You're On Your Own, Kid looks back on getting famous and how isolating it felt, over strummed electric guitar. i-D has it second and MOJO third, its 2 top-three placings of 7, while Business Insider and ClutchPoints both drop it to eleventh.
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Taylor Swift — Speak Now (2010)
No co-writer on any of the fourteen songs, because Swift wrote the album alone, and its opening week's sales came to 1,047,000. Dear John is a slow, bluesy country-pop number with electric lead guitar, and at 6:43 it's the longest track on any album linked here. It lands third or higher in 0 of the 7, with ClutchPoints' fifth its best result, and i-D's eighth, for Speak Now (Taylor's Version), goes to this album's tally.
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Taylor Swift — The Tortured Poets Department (2024)
Swift named it while accepting a Grammy in February 2024, it came out that April, and The Anthology followed two hours later with 15 more songs; this link carries the 16-song standard release. So Long, London starts on choir-like vocals and turns into quick, quivering synths. i-D's December 2023 list predates it, so 6 rankings count for it, 0 of which put it above fourth, and Business Insider's fifth, given to The Anthology, is its best showing.
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Taylor Swift — Taylor Swift (2006)
Nathan Chapman has sole production credit on all but one song. Our Song, written for a ninth-grade talent show, topped Hot Country Songs for six straight weeks. Spotify's eleven-track carrier is titled "Taylor Swift (MP3 partners version)" and prints track ten as Mary's Song (Oh My My) against the original (Oh My My My), and none of the 7 rankings rates it above eighth, the place ClutchPoints gives it, for a tally of 0.
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Taylor Swift — The Life of a Showgirl (2025)
Max Martin and Shellback are back as co-producers, and Swift recorded with them in Stockholm in 2024, between European dates of the Eras Tour. Father Figure interpolates George Michael's 1987 song of the same name, which earned him a songwriting credit. i-D's 2023 list came too early for it, and the 6 that followed hand the record 0 places in their top three, with Consequence and MOJO, at ninth apiece, rating it most kindly.
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How this list was ranked
Readers rank this list by voting items up and down. Items are ordered by reader votes.
